1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure generally relates to the field of fishing, and, in particular, formation and assembly of fishing rods and rigs.
2. Description of the Art
Generally, fishing rigs are used for catching fish from an aquatic environment. Fishing rigs come in a wide variety and are often specialized for specific uses. Fishing rigs may be designed around optimizing characteristics such as ease of use, durability, reduced maintenance, effectiveness in competition, etc. While fishing, a user may require multiple fishing rigs, each optimized for different purposes (weight of lure, expected catch size, type of competition, etc.). Fishing rig dimensions may also vary based on user characteristics, including size of the user and arm length. Fishing rigs may include numerous elements, such as rod blanks, fishing line, fishing line guides, reel seats, butts, counterweights, etc. Fishing rigs are built around a rod blank that serves as an attachment point for other elements. However, rod blanks are typically made of flexible materials, such as fiber glass, which is subject to damage during handling and use and deterioration due to exposure to the environment. Since a rod blank has a fixed length, a fishing rig built around a rod blank will have a limited range of users (based on user size and arm length) and a fixed set of uses unless modified. Modification options for a fishing rig built around a rod blank are often limited based on properties of the rod blank and the need for complex equipment (manufacturing environment) to perform the modification. A broken rod blank may require factory equipment unavailable to the user. If a rod blank is damaged, the entire fishing rig must be rebuilt around a new rod blank. What is needed is a fishing rig foundation that is more robust than a rod blank to serve as the attachment point for the fishing rig elements, and may be assembled/modified by the user in the field.